Dolly Parton is known for her wholesome image and for being one of the biggest names in country music. But those two didn't always align. Through the years, Parton garnered a bit of ill will from a host of band members that she's fired.
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Her guitarist Don Roth reflected on Parton's ruthless streak as a boss. If you were in her band, she will fire you without warning. Roth says that people lived in fear of being fired.
"First of all, everybody's afraid they're gonna get fired; there's no stability," Roth said in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. "Because if she doesn't like you, and chances are she won't, she will fire you. If she doesn't like your attitude, if she doesn't get 'good vibes,' as esoteric as that is, from you on or off the stage, she doesn't care if you're the best player in the world. She's not going to keep you in the group."
Even Parton acknowledged that she sometimes got a bit fire-happy. However, she said it stemmed from wanting to be perfect.
"I've probably gone through more musicians than anybody, but it's not personal, it never is," she admitted. "I have a reputation in Nashville. You can't keep a job with Dolly Parton — but that's not so, really. I have to have the perfect sound for me, and I've nearly achieved that."
Dolly Parton And Band Mates
She also said, "I can't work with squirrels or dope addicts or drunkards. I expect goodness from my people, and I expect them to be qualified for what I need, and I want to be proud of the band I've built."
Likewise, Parton says that the firings were not personal. But according to Roth, they certainly felt personal for the people getting fired. "A number of other people got fired and, of course, all the people that got fired say, 'Oh, that [expletive] Dolly!'" Roth said. "'She promised this and that —,' and some people are very bitter."
What probably stung worse is that Parton didn't handle it herself. Instead, she typically let her band leader, Gregg Perry, handle the firing.
While Parton knew when people didn't fit into the sound she wanted to achieve, it didn't make firing them easy. As a result, she typically passed the job off to her band leader, Gregg Perry.
"It really is too d--ned difficult for her to fire people when she loves them, and it may not be totally right for her to have somebody else do it, but Gregg was all too willing — always. But he just does his job," Roth said. "A great deal of talk is going around town — 'That son-of-a-b**** fired me.' All the poor bastard did was make a phone call because he was told to. I like Gregg. He's a good friend of mine. But to Dolly, he got to be a convenience. To the point of where she'll say, 'I think I'll call Don,' and he'll say, 'I'll call him for you.' His title is band leader, but he has taken it upon himself to always carry her suitcase for her and to do just about everything."
